Royal Military College of Canada

Environment

Phytoremediation Paleolimnology - DDT in the Food Chain

By: B.A. Zeeb, BSc, PhD

Phytoremediation

Growing plants in situ to take advantage of their natural ability to accumulate contaminants is a novel treatment that shows promise as a safe and cost-effective remediation technology. In recent years, it has been attracting more and more interest, however, most of the work undertaken has been in the U.S. in generally southerly climates.

Currently, I am involved in research to hyperaccumulate metals and organochlorines from contaminated soils. A full-scale field study in Chilliwack, British Columbia to remediate lead- and copper-contaminated soil from a decommissioned firing range was successfully completed in October 2001. Ongoing greenhouse studies to test techniques on soils contaminated with lead from a very different source are underway. In addition, heritage strains of Pisum sativum have been acquired and are being grown in lead-contaminated soils. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) analyses will be carried out to identify a genetic marker linked to heavy metal uptake, and hence identify the strain with the greatest phytoextraction potential.

Greenhouse studies

In addition to the work described above, treatability studies are being carried out in the RMC greenhouse to evaluate the potential of organochlorine hyperaccumulators that were identified during routine environmental assessments of abandoned military sites in northern Ontario. This work involves maintaining, propogating, and studying the mode of contaminant (PCBs and DDT) uptake under controlled conditions, and will lead to a pilot-scale field study in 2003.